


Seventh Devil

by alliioop



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-04 07:23:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16342346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alliioop/pseuds/alliioop
Summary: Peace has been won for the androids of Detroit, but not everyone wants to see them succeed. Humans are beginning to filter back into the city, new laws are starting to pass, and all Connor wants to do is his job. All Nina wants to do is get to the bottom of the virus corrupting her system.But things are never that easy, and very rarely what they appear to be.





	Seventh Devil

The first time she met Connor was two years after the Revolution, in New Jericho. She had arrived just a month prior, and was still new to being around so many free androids. It had never been a part of her life, it had only ever been her, the friendliness of the others still managed to catch her off guard.

The meeting between Jericho leadership and Connor had been talked about for almost a week, everyone she spoke to was excited to finally see him. He was a hero to their kind, like Markus. The one who turned against his programming and freed thousands from under Cyberlifes nose. It'd been the final blow that won the Revolution, the last piece of the puzzle that won them their freedom.

It hadn't been easy, even after the city had been evacuated. There were laws to change and androids all over the country were still being persecuted on their way to Detroit. She had been one of the last few to join Jericho before humans began moving back into the city. It was a tentative time, each species wary of the other. Markus said it was a new beginning, a start to harmony between humans and androids. Not all of them were convinced of this.

Which was why everyone was excited for Connor to return. He'd helped form a new division of the DPD, one focused on crimes against Androids. It was a positive sign that maybe things would get better.

The first time she saw him, she was in the middle of a crowd. Many others pushed ahead, eager to even get a look from him. He looked calm, expression nearly serene, despite the mob of androids around him waiting for acknowledgment. But there was pride there too, they were his people, they had accepted him even after his rocky beginnings. 

Even through a crowd of androids he was magnetic, her eyes locked onto him and wouldn't move away. She didn't bother trying to get closer. The attempt would likely get her more attention, but not the kind she would want. So she stood back, following his every move, every smile and brush of hands until--

He saw her and _stopped_. They had never met but she felt something buzz through her systems, something low and familiar. It felt like a lifetime before he turned away, making his way further through the crowd towards where he would meet Markus and the rest of New Jericho leadership.

But their eyes kept drifting together, and they locked right before the door clicked shut in front of him. It was unexpected, she smiled, but not a bad thing.

It was hours before the crowd started to disperse. Logically, they could have been in there into the night, and all of them were starting to fit back into society. That included jobs, for fair wages, and their own homes and lives. As much as they all wanted to glimpse the leaders of the Android State, it couldn't be helped.

She had no job yet, and no home, so she waited. Slid down the wall she'd earlier leaned against, closed her eyes, and slipped into standby mode. The slightest noise would bring her back, and when it did she was looking up into warm brown eyes. "Hello," she said, as if it was the most normal conversation she would ever have.

Connor only smiled, holding his hand out to her. "Hello. Were you waiting for me?"

There could be very few other answers, but she avoided his eyes all the same. Taking his hand, he brought her to her feet with little effort and she was struck by his full gaze again. Before, there hand been nearly a hundred androids to take away some of the attention, but now it was all on her. It was like being put on a slide under a microscope, like he could see all of her inner workings with a simple look.

"Why would I do that?" 

His smile only grew, as if he were processing all the possible reasons she would. "Come on, walk with me." He pulled lightly at their connected hands before letting go and leading her down a path she hadn't seen anyone take. Her hands shoved deep inside the pockets of her jacket.

New Jericho had once been a hotel in Old Detroit, it made sense, on a surface level. Room for all the displaced androids, ones who didn't have anywhere else to stay or ones who hadn't been sold before the revolution. Meeting rooms downstairs, and eyes in all directions if President Warren decided to take them all out at once. 

Time had passed and many had moved out, and many more had taken their place. The hotel was only a base of operations now, androids had made their way into the whole city. Humans weren't needed for the city to function, but peace was. It was the only way Markus could convince some of the more vocal few, North included, to accept humans back at all.

She remembered the announcement, it had happened just a few days after she'd arrived. Even though the words were spoken with confidence, she would admit that Markus did have a way about him when he spoke, there was doubt that it would happen at all.

"When will humans begin coming back?"

It wasn't supposed to be the first thing she asked him, but the words jumped out of her mouth before she could stop them.

"They already have." He said, glancing over and smirking at her surprised expression. "Only a few for now, and only the most trusted. Soon things will be better."

A noise rumbled at the back of her throat at his assurance, and Connor paused to look her her again. 

"Do you doubt it?"

"I doubt humans. They're flawed, they jump to the worst conclusions with little evidence. They'll hurt us, like they did before." Abuse wasn't the word for how she was treated before the revolution, but she had seen others. She saw androids peacefully surrendering and being gunned down. Even as a product to be used and thrown away, it was wasteful.

He stopped in the middle of a hallway, turning to look at her. "They'll be punished. The only way Markus will allow humans to live with us is to give us the same rights. We have to be seen as people as much as they are, or nothing will work."

Her hands tightened into fists in her pockets, and she knew he noticed. It had been his function, after all. "Humans lie." 

It wasn't a statement to be disputed, and he didn't try. He simply paused, LED cycling yellow for a moment, before leading her on. They continued on in silence for a long moment in which she considered that she might have made a mistake waiting for him. Before she could even begin running simulations to extract herself he pushed open an exterior door and light flooded over her face.

The sun was only just beginning to rise, the world around them still cast in a blue haze as the first rays of light filtered through the buildings around them. They stood in some kind of walkway, a fire exit towards outside stairs, but all she could see was the sun casting shadows and dips over his features. His eyes closed as he turned towards the sun, she wondered if he was able to feel the heat of it on his artificial skin, if it warmed his systems. In that moment, she thought he was beautiful. 

"I come here to think, sometimes," he said, his eyes still closed. "I know I don't need air, but something about it is soothing." All she really felt was her thirium pump speeding up, flushing her cheeks and keeping her biocomponents from freezing, but she wouldn't say it out loud. 

His eyes opened and he looked at her, again, like she was something to be studied. "I can't recall meeting you, or any android with facial features like yours. What is your model number, if I may ask?"

"AP700," she said instantly, she wasn't trying to hide it. "My... owners ordered me custom. They wanted me to look like a human they had lost." She shook her head. "They regretted it. It was like I was a ghost every time they saw me. It didn't help me integrate. I was only there a week before the revolution."

His hand gripped at her shoulder hesitantly. He wasn't a model made for comforting, he was made to solve mysteries, but she gave him a smile and a nod anyway. It was the thought behind it that counted, it was something she was still learning. 

"At least I don't need to ask your model number," she said, directing the conversation away from her, "you're pretty famous." 

"So you haven't met me before?" He was grasping at straws, trying to figure out why they felt some kind of familiarity towards each other. Her lips pulled into a smile, but she shook her head. 

"Not in person. Everyone here knows _of_ you." She took a chance then, took a step closer as his hand drifted from her shoulder down her arm, just below her elbow. "How many people know _you_?" 

He didn't need to answer for her to know the truth, it was written all over his face. Earlier she could only get an impression of what he was feeling in the crowd of New Jericho. Only see slivers of something else in his eyes as the mask he wore covered up anything else. Now, she'd been getting under his skin. She could see everything. 

He didn't know if anyone could see who he really was. 

She made a decision then, despite the warnings flashing red in front of her eyes. Her arm shifted until his hand was hanging loosely onto hers, twisting to press their palms together. It was a risk, she knew that. He could see everything if she couldn't keep the connection in check, but it was a risk she knew she needed to take.

He was shaken by the gesture, surprised she would even offer something like that to someone she had only just met. That didn't mean that he turned away from it. Starting at his fingertips, she watched as the synthetic skin started to peel away slowly. It was a sign of trust she knew she didn't deserve.

She had never interfaced with another android before, the sensation buzzed over her arms like static electricity. The artificial hairs on her skin rose and she nearly gasped out loud before she was sucked into the connection.

She saw through his eyes, the derision on the officers of the DPD as he entered a room, the worst of which belonging to a grey haired human with a scowl on his lips. 

_Lieutenant Hank Anderson_. He was a friend now, she watched him smile in the snow, his arms outstretched for a hug. She watched him shoot another Connor model standing beside her, She felt the weight of his hand resting on her shoulder and his voice saying he was proud.

But there was more there, more for her to see. There was another detective, lips twisted into a sneer and a scar over his nose, his hand clenched into a fist.

There was a pair on androids, Traci models, holding hands and saying they were in love. There was a WR600, his face scarred and his behavior erratic. A WB400 fleeing through an agricultural plant, the choice between giving up the chase or risking the life of the Lieutenant.

And she knew what he was seeing through her eyes as well. Engineers, so close she could feel their breath over her plastic shell. She had to be perfect they said, that was all she could remember them saying. She saw a woman, dark hair and dark eyes and a strained smile. She saw a man, constantly twisting his wedding band around his finger, his eyes frigid whenever they turned towards her.

There was a little girl also, who always cried and clung to her.

The connection pulled away, just as she was glimpsing cherry blossom trees and roses, and he looked down at her like she was _something_. It was the first time she could ever recall feeling warmth, blossoming in her chest. The first time she didn't know exactly what to say or do. The small landing became an island, just her and him and nothing else seemed to exist.

There were no programs to tell her what to do, no protocols, no subroutines. In an instant it was all instinct, and without thought she leaned up onto her toes and aimed to press a kiss to his cheek. That had been her intent, but he was no statue. He moved as her head tilted back , and her lips landed on the corner of his instead.

It wasn't just her, she knew from the tenseness of his features, from the way his fingers contracted on her own. She felt the shift in every biocomponent, over every inch of synthetic skin and through every strand of artificial hair. Something inside her was different, suddenly. Something she couldn't explain or quantify, something that just _was_. 

Her world had turned on its axis, begun to spin out of control, but all her processors focused on was the feel of it. The desire to do it again, fully, to sink into the grip of him and never leave. It was almost frightening.

She pulled back and stepped back at once, the realization jolting her to her senses. The heat from her thirium pump was almost unbearable, it made her breath come out in pants to cool everything back down. He was doing the same, his cheeks pink.

 **ESCAPE**

Her steps stumbled her back to the door and back down the hallway they had come from, and as soon as he was out of sight she ran.

\---

It wasn't the last time she spoke to Connor, androids could speak easier than a human with a cellphone. They didn't speak about what happened, but the fact that he still made the effort to be in contact with her was all she needed to know how he felt about it. 

The next time she saw him, humans had started coming back. As he said, a few at a time and then a few more. It hadn't gotten to the point that they outnumbered the android occupants, it would still be a while yet for that, but tensions were high none the less. The DPD had a few officers, including the Lieutenant she now knew a bit about, but they largely left things alone unless their was violence.

The next time she saw him, she was in the nearest branch of the Detroit Public Library organizing the books. There were others there, most of them androids but a few ambitious humans as well, but he walked straight to were she was standing and smiled at her. He spoke to her as she worked, asked her how the humans she'd interacted with had been, if anyone had treated her poorly.

He asked how she was feeling. She didn't know.

They went up the stairs, and even as they left she could feel the stares of the androids around them like fire on her back. He didn't seem at all affected, still smiling easily and leaning against a wall next to a window, but there was nervousness in his eyes. She knew it was in her eyes too, but she suspected not for the same reasons.

He reached out, took hold of her wrist and ran his thumb over the skin there until it flickered away. Her LED was spinning, she knew. There was a pit of something in her gut that she didn't want to try to identify.

He asked if she was scared, and it was like a flip switched.

"No," she said, her lips twisting. Before he could react, before he could see the truth on her features, a shot rung out between them. His face stuttered, and her fingers clenched the cool metal of the gun in her hand before taking a step back and looking at her work. She didn't have time to scan, but the blue blood that flowed through his hands was proof enough.

He looked up at her, for the last time, like she was a creature he had never seen before and something cold passed through her systems. 

"RK800, I've been sent from Cyberlife to deactivate you."

Before she could aim at him again, he had stumbled to the ground and it would have been an easy shot, there was a yell behind her. The gun dropped from her fingers and she dove out the window before any of the androids who had stumbled across the scene could get to her.

Her mission wasn't complete.


End file.
